DRESDEN FILES: NEW FRIEND
by Paints his shirt red
Summary: Character insert set 2 years before storm front. Harry Dresden has only just set up shop in down town Chicago when he's called on his first case with the CPD.
1. Chapter 1

Here's your damn disclaimer.

Summery: Set two years before storm front my character is introduced to the scene altering the story line of the entire series. I'll try not to piss off anyone. My summories kinda suck so just read.

DRESDEN FILES

NEW FRIEND

**Chapter 1**

As I opened my eyes for the first time in a long time I was met by complete darkness. "I might as well have kept my eyes closed," I said with a slight chuckle. It's always good to start the day with a laugh. My joy was to be short lived however. The memories of what my senses had last taken in returned with a vengeance. The sight of horrific fighting, the sounds of the screams of my friends and family, the smell of their blood in the air, the taste of blood and bile in my mouth made my eyes flood with tears of shear unadulterated grief. But worst of all was feeling the life being drained from my three best friends, Johnathan the loup garou, Samantha the red court vampire and little beezle the fairy. If you've never held someone's hand while they died, keep it that way, by all means keep it that way. The last thing I remember is being torn from their bodies by the strong but old hands of my father after which I completely blacked out.

I forced the memories of the battle from my mind and tried to focus on my surroundings. I reached out and felt hard cool stone, probably granite. I made a quiet mummer in a language that only I know, summoning the spirit of fire. The tips of each of my fingers glowed to life with the light of small orange flames. At first the light hurt my eyes but I quickly adjusted. I was inside some sort of stone chamber that was barely large enough to stand in and half the length needed to lie down in. Etched all over the walls of the chamber where runes. I recognized my fathers writing. Upon the wall directly across from myself gleamed a large quartz crystal. I moved my flame tipped fingers closer to the gem to examine it and as I did an image swirled to life beneath it's surface. The image was blurry at first but soon cleared to be the gray haired wrinkled face of my father Nathanial Kain.

"If you are receiving this message my son, two very important things have happened," father said in a sad yet comforting voice. "Firstly, I, as well all of our comrades of the Roanoke colony are dead." The news was expected but that didn't make it any less painful to hear as a fact. "Secondly, and far more importantly... ...you are alive." The Image of my father paused for a moment to allow me to fully absorb this fact. "I placed you inside a time capsule of my creation. In a sense, you have been flung into the future, the beginning of the twenty first century to be exact."

"Father!" I shouted at the image. "Why save me? I would have stayed with you and my friends till the end." It occurred to me that this was a prewriten message. It could not answer my questions.

"I know what you are thinking my son. You are wondering why I saved you." I smiled at this. My father always new what I would ask before I could ask it. "Because, of all our group, you are the one who believed in our cause of peace the most. I have sent you, my son, to the future in hopes that the world is more ready to join us. There is a wizard here not far from this place that will be able to help you. Ask him to teach you of these new twenty first century customs so that you may better blend in. But he holds much fear and anger in his heart. You must help him in return." My father paused before he continued. "You've gotten so strong," he whispered, voice quivering. "I know I can count on you Jacob. Make me proud."

His voice returned to normal tones. "The time has come," he said. "Shatter the crystal speak your name and go forth into the world."

After that the image of my father faded and died.

Wasting no time I drew back my fist, called upon the spirit of the earth turning my hand to stone, and smashed it against the jewel breaking it into a thousand pieces. "I AM JACOB KAIN!!"

There was a deafening roar as the magic that had shielded my body from the effects of time fell away. The stone wall that had housed the quartz gem crumbled before my eyes and I was lifted off the ground by a sudden furious gust of wind. I was then propelled down a long, dark tunnel. As drew closer to the exit, I saw the light of the sun. "I've missed you," I found myself saying.

The light dimmed and changed to show that it was not the sun but a reflection off a large, green, rectangular, metal object. I suddenly realized that I was heading right for it at an increasing speed. "Oh damn it," I muttered. In a blink of an eye I shot out of the cave tunnel, flew through the air on a torrent of wind, and splattered against what appeared to be a large, metal (very hard mind you) sign.

CLANG!!

I fell of it's surface and landed upon cold wet grass. Well, my body did anyway, my head of course found the largest rock it could loud crack. As my vision was filled with bright stars of pain. I managed to read the sign with which I had collided before passing out.

**WELCOME TO CHICAGO**


	2. Chapter 2

They tell me I have to disclaim these things so FINE I do

A.N. Just a few things I forgot to mention in the beginning. I'll be bouncing back and forth between Harry's and Jacob's pov. Also, this is really only an introduction for my character Jacob, so it should be really fast paced.

Chapter 2

"Harry Dresden's office, this is Dresden," I said into the phone a little too eagerly.

"Holy hell, he's for real!" I herd a voice say off to the side. Dresden, you're either crazy or full shit!" the voice half laughed, half yelled.

I slammed the phone down onto the receiver. I leaned back into my chair and glowered at it as it sat innocently on my office desk. That was the third prank call this morning and if today was going to be anything like this whole damn week there was bound to be more.

But I guess when you're the first person in the USA to declare yourself a professional wizard on national television. And then offer your services to the "kind" and "excepting" city of Chicago Illinois, then, yeah, people are gonna screw with you.

I looked up at the glass paned door to my office. The glass was frosted so it wasn't quite transparent. There was also lettering on the pane that appeared backwards to my point of view. But I knew what it read.

OFFICE OF: HARRY DRESDEN, WIZARD.

I was starting to wonder whether or not this was even close to being a good idea. People still thought of magic and the arcane world as something that only exists in kids' stories. But it's been here, all along, since the dawn of time or whatever. Although, just because it's real doesn't mean people believe in it. Most of the "modern" crowd thinks of folks like me the same way those prank callers had put it, "crazy or full of shit." "Well, not much I can do about that," I said out loud to myself as picked up the paperback I had been reading.

It was at this time that a shape appeared in the frosted glass of my door. The first thing I noticed was that whoever was on the other side was really, really short. The person couldn't have been more than five nothing. The door then opened to reveal the person to be a woman. She had short blonde hair that immediately reminded me of Shirley Temple. Her eyes were a baby blue and her skin was a delicate pale. Her nose was small and had a slight upward curve to it making her look kind of like a cheerleader only slightly older. She wore just enough make up to make it look like she didn't have any on at all and just looked that way naturally. Her ears had tiny silver studs that flashed in the light. She wore a heavy gray coat, you know, the kind that all the detectives wear on Law and Order. It was then that I noticed that her coat was sporting a large copper Chicago Police badge on her left lapel.

I immediately rose from my chair. "Good morning officer. To what do I owe the pleasure of hosting a member of Chicago's finest?" I asked.

"Mister Dresden," she said ignoring my attempt at polite humor. "My name is Karin Murphy. I'm a detective with the Special Investigations Unit of the CPD." She paused as she looked around my office. She must have expected to see caldron or pet raven on perch or at least something that pointed toward the supernatural, sorry to disappoint ya sweetie. She turned back to me and said, "If you could please come with me someone at the downtown hospital keeps asking for you."

I got confused after she said that. "Lieutenant Murphy, I just moved here to the Chicago area pretty recently. I haven't really met all that many people so I don't think you have the right Harry Dresden." I said. I gave an apologetic smile because it was all I could think of at that moment.

Murphy waved off my comment. "No, he's not asking for you by name." she said. "He keeps asking us to…" She held her hands up in a quotation gesture and made a mocking voice. "…summon the nearest wizard." She rolled her eyes after having used that last word as she couldn't believe it herself.

I raised my eyebrows so high I was afraid they might not come back down. "Umm, shouldn't guy be on his way to the 'state hospital?'"

Murphy laughed at this. "If that was all there was to it, yeah, I'd have him in a straight jacket right now, but…" She paused as she searched for the correct choice of words. "Our shrink examined him last night. Says there's nothing physically wrong with his brain and he's not acting psychotic. That and well…" She looked away before finishing the sentence. "…maybe you should see for yourself."

"Well I'd love to help you guys out," I said. "But I'm kinda at work right now." It was my turn to look away that time. Work, what a joke! This was the only action I've had since finding a man's wedding ring last Thursday. "Well, I suppose I could come meet the guy I mean what the hell."

"Don't worry," Murphy said. "The city will cover you expenses."

Jackpot! I could practically see the dollar signs. "Well, that brightens the mood of things," I said. Money makes everything better.

I followed the good lieutenant out of the building and down to where I had parked my car. My car's an old blue Volkswagen Bug that I have dubbed the "Blue Beatle." I looked around for a squad car that Murphy would have driven, I didn't see one. "Uh, do you need a ride?" I asked.

"No, just follow my Harley."

"Harley?" I looked in time to see Murphy straddle a huge black cruiser. That monster was anything but girly. "Whoa," was all I could muster. I walked over to the blue beetle and slid into the driver's seat. I turned the key and the bug sputtered to life, pathetically. I then heard Murphy's bike roar. "Harry, your ride just got beat by a girl," I said with a chuckle. My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk.


	3. Chapter 3

AN Ok, I started this story knowing nothing about what my main plot would be, but I've sat down and thought it out and now I have a real story line

AN Ok, I started this story knowing nothing about what my main plot would be, but I've sat down and thought it out and now I have a real story line. We'll see who knows their mythology. I will say one word, Set. Sorry this chap took so long. I hate writer's block.

Chapter 3

**Dresden's pov**

We rolled into the parking lot of the hospital at about noon. I got out of my car and met Murphy at the steps leading up to the door. As we neared the door, I leaped ahead to open it for her. I like opening doors for women. When one walks into the room, I stand. I pay for shared meals and all that sort of thing. I guess in today's society of skater boys, rappers, and red necks, chivalry is a forgotten word. "Ladies first," I said.

The detective did not seem to share my opinion. I had forgotten, she was a career girl. She's had to go head to head and horn to horn with some serious sexist shit to become not only a lieutenant, but a department head. She glared at me for a moment without meeting my eyes. I hadn't met many who could do that. I waited for a moment. I wasn't sure if I should walk through the door or run away. Then, with slight smile she rolled her eyes and walked inside. Whew! Crisis averted.

What's the deal about meeting a wizard's eyes you ask? Well, eyes are like windows, windows into your soul to be exact. If you look into them long enough, a wizard like me can see into the very core of your being. At the same time you'll see mine. It's not a very fun experience. I've never forgotten a soul gaze, ever.

Apparently Murphy either heard about this or something similar. Maybe she does know something about my world, nah.

Murphy quickly strolled over to the nurse at the info station, a young guy who was probably still in med school. "I need to see the guy with the head injury that was brought in last night. I'm with the CPD." she said flashing her badge professionally.

The nurse looked up with an irritated look on his face. "This is a hospital, Ms. Do you have any idea how many head injuries there are here?"

"THE guy with the head injury."

The nursed paused, and then a look spread across the guy's face. "Oh, him, yeah, he's in the ER."

"The ER!?" Murphy yelled. "Why didn't anyone call me if he was croaking?"

"Oh, he's fine. He's… doing great actually. I've never even heard of anything healing that fast. He did freak out the nurse after you left though." The nurse snickered. "About an hour ago, he walked out of his room held up his bloodied bandages and asked her where to dispose of them. Then he turned right around and made a pass at her, and it wasn't half bad."

I raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh yeah, what did he say?"

The nurse started laughing. "Now, if you were to lie down on a beach, the heat from your body would turn the sand to glass." he said in a mocking tone.

I thought for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Man! That was really corny."

"I know. And the best part was she blushed pink as a Barbie doll."

"Boys!" growled Murphy. "If you're done, we are on the clock here. Let's get a move on, Dresden."

We made our way to the ER entrance as the nurse had directed us. I told Murphy that it was a bad idea for me to walk past anything that was high tech. Technology and wizards don't mix well. I can blow up an I-pod by touching it. I don't know if Murphy believed me on this one but she did lead me away from the intensive care unit.

It was then that we entered the ER and I saw who we had come to meet.

The young man I saw was one of the strangest I had ever laid eyes on. He was of medium height, maybe five ten but that was a stretch. (Get it, stretch, height, aw never mind.) He had shoulder length; sandy blonde hair that looked ragged enough for any hippie. His eyes were the bright green of new leaves. He was well built, not buff at all, but pretty athletic looking. His clothes looked like something from a renaissance fair. He wore an off white baggy shirt that had a corset at the chest. His pants were a dark red stained with dirt at the knees. The black riding boots he wore came up over the bottoms of his trousers and folded back on themselves. Draped over his shoulders was an honest to god hooded cloak, held together by a bronze clasp. He looked up at us as we came in as if assessing us. Then, with a satisfied smile returned to what was looking at before.

A small Asian girl, maybe six years old, was clutching her arm. As we got closer we could see that she had gashed her arm. It looked like a bike accident, not deep but bled like a mother. Tears were streaming down her face, and her mother was doing her best to comfort her.

**Kain's pov**

I knelt down next to the small weeping girl. My brown cloak pooled around me as I did. "Hello, little one. What is your name?"

Through a great amount of sniffing and whimpering, she answered, "Katie."

"Well Katie, I'm going to make you all better." I said in the friendliest voice I could.

"You promise?"

"I promise. It will be just like magic." I gently took her arm and wrapped my cloak around it. Watching skin grow back together might be a little frightening to her. I gave the mother a reassuring wink and then began to chant as softly as I could.

Healing spells have got to be some of the hardest to do, if you don't know what you're doing. Most wizards try to command each and every part of another's body to rearrange themselves to the wizards liking. The problem is that there are so many parts that the wizard can't fully visualize every vein, tissue, muscle and whatever else they are trying to manipulate. But after studying under sidhe healing masters, I learned that if you let the body take charge of the rearrangement, all you have to do is give it the energy to do it at a much faster pace.

As I neared the end of my incantation I felt Mother Earth's energy begin to flow from the earth, to my body's core, out my right arm and into the girl. I watched the girl's eyes grow to the size of platters in surprise, but she did not pull away. As I stopped I looked up at the two who had just entered the room. They too were staring at the scene I had created. "There, heh," I chuckled. "All better."

**Dresden's pov**

(Holy Shit!) I thought as I watched this guy remove the cloak from the girls arm. There was barely a scar left from where just a moment ago was a gaping wound. I looked at the guy as he rose from his knee and walked over to Murphy and me.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I thought while I waited for you to arrive I could do some good." He spoke with a strange accent I had never heard; it was some sort of old English with early American. "Thank you for bringing him so quickly Miss Murphy."

"It's _detective _Murphy," she shot at the medieval hippie. "Mr. Dresden, this is Jacob Kain. Mr. Kain this-"

"Please, detective," Jacob interrupted. "What have I said about calling me that? It's Jacob."

Murphy rolled her eyes. "_Jacob _this is Harry Dresden. He's the one you've been asking for."

I extended my hand, "How do you do." Jacob took my hand firmly. His hands were very calloused, probably from manual labor. In addition to the hand shake he gave a slight bow.

"A pleasure, Wizard Dresden," he stated politely. "If you will follow me please."

He led Murphy and I down the hall back to what must have been his room. He opened the door, we followed him in and he shut it behind us. He walked over to his white hospital bed and unclipped his cloak to lay it across the sheets. "There is no easy way for me to describe what has happened, so I'll just say it." He said, with a slight smile. "I have been sleeping for over four hundred years in a time capsule. I am a Roanoke colony survivor." He paused as he looked at the two of us. "Heheh, I'm quite sure that I sound as if I've gone completely mad."

"No man," I said. "This happens all the time." I turned to Murphy. "Remind me why I'm here. This guy needs to be seriously medicated."

"My I ask, what is not so believable? Your scholar examined me and I received a clean bill of health."

"Sorry, but what you're asking me to believe is absolutely crazy." I turned back to Murphy. "Detective Murphy, I sorry but I don't want to take up any more of your time or the city's money. The city can send me a check in the mail." I turned to leave but was stopped Murphy.

"You want to know why we want to have your opinion?" She growled. "Jacob, show him."

Jacob nodded curtly to Murphy and then started to loosen the strings to his shirt. He pulled the shirt up over his head to reveal the athletic body I suspected he had. He looked at me before turning to reveal what I wished I could get out of my memory.

His back looked as if it had been carved on with a red hot bowie knife. Vicious scars had risen off the surface of his skin. The darkness of the scar tissue contrasted the normally colored skin of his back. The second thing I noticed was that the scars formed the shape of a pentacle. The pentacle is the symbol of magic and wizardry; the five elements of the universe contained within a circle of human control. Also carved into Jacob's back, just above the pentacle was the word PRODITOR.

Murphy leaned in to whisper to me. "We thought you might know what those mean. The doctors here said they couldn't tell how he got those markings."

AN Sorry this took so long. Please take the time to tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Dresden's POV**

At that moment, Murphy's cell rang. "Murphy," she said. "What! Hang on, I got to this outside." She turned, and briskly walked out the door. I heard what sounded like a heated conversation. But now was not the time for eves dropping. There were more pressing matters.

I turned back to face the long haired Jacob. With a flick of my wrist and a slight whisper I looked the door to the room. There was a short lived silence.

Jacob broke it first. "Well, where to begin? I suppose-

I quickly pulled my blasting rod from my pocket pointed it directly at the shirtless, young man. I had seen what level of magic he was capable of and wasn't taking any chances. I had seen what he had done earlier. The amount of control he had would be at the level of many on the High Council.

Oh what's the High Council? It's like the governing body for us wizards. They are the ones who lay down the law and deal out justice when someone breaks the laws of magic. I've had my run ins with them and we weren't exactly on the best terms. It all has to do with the first law of magic, "Thou shall not kill." I had a bad disagreement with my old master if know what I mean. It was total self defense, but the Council takes its rules very seriously and I got let off with a sort of eternal probation. Hey, I don't like it but the alternative was beheading, and I'm not real big on that.

Anyway because I know the ins and outs of the High Council, I recognized the symbol on Jacob's back. Or at least I could read the Latin word written in his skin. Proditor meant "betrayer" or "traitor." And I could tell the scars on his skin were left by magic; a seriously bad ass spell that only the marshals knew how to use with that sort of precision, to be exact.

Back to the action now. "Alright." I said. "You're gonna tell me exactly who you are, why you're hear and especially why you wanted to talk to me." I let the tip of my blasting rod glow a little bit in order to stress my point.

**Jacob's POV**

I raised my eyebrows at the sight of Dresden's weapon. I had known that the scars would upset him since he would know what they meant but I hadn't expected violence. I put my hands up to show that I meant no harm and told him so. He didn't lower his rod.

"Well you know my name, and I told you where I come from." I said in as innocent a manner as I could under the pressure of having my head potentially blown away. "I know you understand the meaning of those symbols at least in part."

"So you understand why I'm not all that comfortable with having a traitor talking to me. They tend to be you _treacherous, _you know?" he said.

"I give my word then; I mean no harm and I only have asked for you for the aid you could provided me." Dresden lowered his weapon at this.

"Alright," said Dresden. "You had better start talking if you want me to not turn you right over to the High Council. You say you're from the past I'll believe that by just looking at you." He walked across the room and pulled up a chair, spun it around and sat down in it with the back facing me. "What are you doing here? And what do you want me for?"

I sat down on the edge of the bed and gave a long sigh. "Well to be honest, I don't know fully why I'm here. I was put in a time capsule by my father… for my protection."

Dresden looked puzzled by this. "Protection? From whom was he protecting you?"

I let go another sigh and stood and walked around the room for a moment before answering. Dresden waited patiently. "From the High Council's… people," I said finally. "I'm sure you know what the symbol on my back is for."

"I'm pretty sure but would you care to enlighten me?"

I sat back on the bed and prepared to tell a rather long story. "There was a time long ago when I was younger, when my father and I first started the organization. Our mission was to help bring the people of our world and the people of the never never together in one last attempt for peace between the realms."

This got a slight laugh from Harry. "What the hell makes you think there could ever be peace between earth and the never never realms? Have you just lost touch with reality? Last time I checked, the elves steal babies, the trolls wreck things, and vampires EAT people."

I looked down at the floor. _Still the same arguments, _I thought to myself. "That's exactly what the High Council told my father when we first started the organization. That we were fools to think we could 'save the world.' But we didn't need them. If they wanted to go on and fight we would let them. All the while we worked in hiding.

We started out in London, just a small place disguised as a bordello. It was a well kept secrete to normals. They thought that all the strange night activity was completely normal for such a place. But they had no idea. There, my father and I worked to repair the relationships between the wizards and many other creatures of magic." "Oh Harry," I said. "If only you had been there. We helped so many people."

I got up off the bed and walked around while I thought and spoke. Harry didn't say anything. I only hopped he didn't think the same of me that they had.

"When I grew older I took it as my purpose, to make my father's dream a reality. I found ways for red court vampires to feed without hurting anyone. I found methods to help fairies release their mischievous personalities in comparatively healthy ways. I could go on and on."

**Dresden's POV**

At this point I was starting to wonder about his sanity again. Does he know what kind of creatures he talking about or does he just not care? These creatures are nothing but menaces to the whole world. But there was still something wrong.

"I still don't see how you got those scars. Did one of those things finally turn on you, heh?"

It was then that Jacob's demeanor changed from a happy go lucky medieval hippie, to someone who looked as if he would take on the whole High Council, and I feel sorry for the High Council. His fists clenched tight and he seemed like he might loose control for a second. But then he calmed and relaxed, closing his eyes and whispering to himself. He then sat back on the bed and looked over at me. I noticed that his green eyes seemed watery for a moment, but then he blinked and it was gone.

"Oh yes, wizard Harry Dresden. I was betrayed… by my own people, by your High Council."

"They decided that our work was too empowering to those menaces you speak of, and that we were fraternizing with the enemy." Jacob took a breath at this point. I could tell I had hit a real nerve with him. "They came in morning just before dawn. Arrested and interrogated my father. And when I say interrogated they didn't really ask any questions. They destroyed our lab and took our records. I tried to stop them. And so the leader of the strike team carved this symbol into my back to remind me of what they thought of me and my father's actions."

At this point I thought it just might be a good idea to change the subject before this turned nasty. I realized that I still didn't know how the hell he got here and let alone this time.

"Ok, let's say I believe all this. How in hell's name did you get here?"

Jacob's mood seem to change a little but I could still see that the memories weren't gonna get much prettier.

"Well after the raid, my father and I decided to move our operations to the new world. The council had little influence there so it should be ideal for what we were trying to achieve."

"And what exactly did you have in mind to achieve, some kind of clichéd utopian world?" I asked.

Jacob smiled at this. Smiling was something that seemed to be very natural for him. "My my, Wizard Dresden, you guessed it in one." He said with a slight laugh. "Just imagine. What if there could be a world were the beings from the realms of the Nevernever could come and live with humans in peace and harmony."

"That is exactly what we were creating. We signed on with a good captain and crew to take us to the Virginia Colony. We were met with hostility there so most of us decided to move the group to the colony of Roanoke. We were doing quite well there. But I suppose it too wasn't meant to last. The raiders had come back, this time to finish us off. They burned everything and killed all in their paths like savages."

He paused there. This time it seemed more out of reverence than of grief. "What they did not know that my father had foreseen the events. We had constructed a way for one of us to escape. The only way would be for one of us to fake our deaths and be flung into another time and another place."

Wow was all I could think to myself at this point. The kid has got probably the most crazy story I've every heard. But hey, when you're in the business of magic, if a story seems to be to be too outrageous to be anywhere remotely true, it probably is true. "Well ok I guess we should get you out of here and maybe we can finish up this up back at my place."

I was just reaching for the doorknob when it turned and flew out of my hand. I hate that by the way; freaks me out. In the doorway stood the blonde cop, Murphy. She looked like what ever that phone call had been about when she left had just ruined her day.

"Ok you guys! This is getting cut short." She turned to me and looked me up and down. "Ok I know there's no way you're a real wizard but you seem like you know your way around the occult."

I love how everyone just kinda tosses everything doing with magic, voodoo, crop circles and candles together, combine it with tons of dark clothes and calls it the "occult."

Murphy saw me snicker and gave me a dagger eyes look. "I got a major situation not far from here and I'll pay you to as a consultant to work with me on it." she said. CHA CHING!! That's what I've been waiting to here all season. She looked over my shoulder at Jacob and said, "and I'm not letting you out of my sight right now so you better drive with the wizard." She then pulled out here phone and punched a speed dial number in a voice came in over a crappy reception.

"Carmichael."

"Yeah it's Murphy." She said. "We're on our way."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Jacob's POV**

The tree of us galloped down the white halls of the hospital. I stumbled a bit as I tried to put my shirt and cloak back on, but I managed to keep up just the same. Men and women in long white coats jumped out of our way as the woman named Murphy lead us to the last door.

When we burst through the other side, Murphy and Wizard Dresden lead me through the strange building that the people had all left their strange horseless carriages like the one I was brought to the hospital in. I still have no earthly idea as to how such devices could be made, let alone work.

Murphy ran to hers. It was a different one as that it only had two wheels. I wondered how it would stay up-right but I decided that now was the opportunity to ask such questions.

The wizard Dresden quickly ran to his carriage, and that's when I saw that we weren't going to be traveling in style.

"Hop in!" he shouted and I watched as he opened his door and tried to follow the same method. I wrenched it open and quickly sat in the seat next to him.

The car, as I had heard someone call this carriage before, was actually quite comfortable, despite its ugly appearance. Its seats were unlike any I had seen in London, but I suppose that was a long time ago for these people and they have since progressed.

"Isn't this exciting!?" I said looking over to Dresden.

**Dresden's POV**

I raised my eyebrow at the guy and snorted a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." I jammed my key into the ignition and turned as my blue beetle sputtered to life. The sounds made Jacob jump a bit but I guess he'd never heard a combustion engine before, especially not one that sounds like a dieing animal half the time.

I looked over my shoulder out my back window to see Murphy roll up on her hog and give the "follow me" wave. I dropped the shifter into reverse and slammed on the gas as I let go the clutch.

The beetle made an extremely scary lurch at my attempt to peel out but we got out of that parking space then shot through the exit after Murphy like a bat outa hell.

I don't know if you've ever driven through down town Chicago in but it ain't fun. I will say that when you have a cop in front of you that can switch on a siren attached to her bike it gets a whole lot better. Murphy parted cars trucks and minivans like the red sea as we barreled past as fast as we could and still make our turns.

Jacob was gripping his seat and the roof of the beetle with everything he had. I'd forgotten that'd he'd never raced a car or even sat in one except the ambulance but that don't count. He was taking like a trooper though. He even had a huge grin on his face that told me he was a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

"HUZAA!!!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs in my tiny car.

I cringed back at the sound. "Damn boy, not so loud will ya. Were just doing 50."

"50 miles per hour! That's amazing!! No horse can do that!" he shouted not quite as loud.

I smiled. "Yeah I know." I said back. I looked ahead and the road straitened out and Murphy was pulling away on that Harley.

"You better hold onto your wand, boy," I said. "Cause it's about to get a whole lot faster." I dropped the clutch into fifth and floored it, throwing us both back in our seats. I love this old VW sometimes. The parked cars next to us turned to blurs as we got up to 65 on the strait away street.

"HELLS BELLS!!!" shouted Jacob, this time with good reason.

"Hey that's my line," I said to him with a grin.

**Jacob's POV**

Up ahead loomed what looked like an abandoned building to me. There were piles of rubbish in the yard and broken down carriages, no cars stopped nearby. That wasn't the sight that was drawing the attentions of all the locals though. As I looked higher I saw plumes of greenish-black smoke billowing out of the upper windows.

"Oh shit," said Dresden as he stomped on a pedal which brought the car to a screeching halt.

I put both hands on the ledge in front of me to keep from being smashed into car. I then quickly looked back up again at the now flames shooting out of the tower-like building.

Nearby were all manner of cars. Blue and white ones, huge red ones with tall ladders attached as well as crowds of people all looking up at the fire.

Dresden and I jumped out of his car and I followed him as he ran to catch up to Murphy. Murphy was talking to a large man who must have been the one she was talking to with her device. Was it Carmichael? I give up. I've always been bad with names.

"How did they know you were coming?" she asked the man. "I mean what did you do wrong?"

Carmichael glared at her but then shrank back. He might have been larger than her but she definitely wasn't about to take insubordination from the other officer. "We didn't do anything, Murphy," he said in a controlled but angry tone. "It was like they already knew we were watching."

Murphy then turned to Dresden and me and thumbed at the fire. "Up there WAS a hid out of a weird cult that we'd been watching. We've got reason to believe that that fire is destroying all the evidence of three murders that we've been trying to connect to them." Murphy turned back to Carmichael with a sudden look of horror. "Has this building been cleared?!" she shouted.

The same look crossed over Carmichael's face and he didn't answer as he ran to a man in a large yellow coat.

Dresden and I followed as quick as we could in time to hear the man in the yellow coat say, "There's no residents here but my guys on the floor below the fire keep saying they hear screaming." At that everyone's face went to a look of panic.

"The bad part is nothing's putting that shit out." The man looked up at the fire.

"I've had to order my men to get back here. Their water makes it bigger and powers ain't doing nothing. I've never seen anything like it, not even grease fires."

Dresden stepped forward. "You can't just leave those people up there! They don't stand a snowball's chance in hell!!"

"Do I look like a fucking wizard to you!?!" the yellow man shouted. "I told you, nothing works!"

Suddenly I knew what was happening. While the others argued I yanked Dresden aside. "Greek fire?" I asked.

**Dresden's POV**

"Yeah," I said. "I thought so as soon as I saw the color."

Greek fire is what a lot of historians call the stuff that the Byzantines would throw on enemy ships, burst into flames and then couldn't be put out. A lot of those historians thought it was made of some kind of oil and water mix so that it spread even more when you put water on it. But that stuff would go out if you smothered it in one way or another.

The real stuff never went out. It was an old Egyptian spell. They'd used it in temples so that the gods would never be without light and some of the pharos even had torches lit with it in their tombs for light in the afterlife. But when the Romans moved in, they started weaponizing it by attaching it to catapults and such. It required some pretty good magical skill to make and I've only heard of a few different texts with the actual spell in it. None are easy to come by.

I looked from the fire and then back to Jacob. "This is bad man." I reached up and wiped sweat from my brow. That fire was getting intense. "Those poor people are gonna get magically barbequed if we don't come up with something."

Jacob's eyes dropped and moved back and forth rapidly. I could tell he was thinking really hard, something that he was good at. "I have a plan!" he said bringing his face up with a glimmer of hope. "Greek fire works because they've reversed the nature of the fire element. Instead of water putting it out it gets bigger. What if we try _Icing _it? Normally fire would melt the ice but since it's been reversed maybe it'll put the fire out."

Well I'll be damned. "That might just work, kid." The kid has got a pretty good head on his shoulders for one who likes to play pattycakes with faeries, vampires and werewolves. (Don't you dare so 'oh my.' I hate the Wizard of Oz.)

We both ran to the side of the building where no one would see what we were about to do.

"We need to get up and in cause for the only freezing spell I know I need to be close to my target," I said.

The two of us both whispered a few words to summon wind powers to lift us up to the top floor, and we rose like to cloaked bats into the air. Then we both held out our right hands…

"GELU!!!"


End file.
